Christone “Kingfish" Ingram

It's a new era for the blues guitar prodigy of our times

- BY ALAN PAUL

THE NEW HARD Road is a landmark album for Christone “Kingfish” Ingram. It's not only his first studio recording since 2021's Grammy-winning 662, but it's the first release on his own label, Red Zero Records. After two studio LPs and one live album for Alligator Records — which helped establish him as a rising star and likely future of the blues - Ingram has boldly charted his own path.

Ingram had just turned 20 when he debuted with his 2019 album, Kingfish. Even so, he'd already been gigging around his hometown of Clarksdale, Mississippi, for years, having learned to play at the Delta Blues Museum's music-education program. Ingram’s mentor, the late guitarist Bill “Howlin’ Mad" Perry — who gave Ingram the name “Kingfish” — would bring star pupils from the classes to perform with him at the Ground Zero Blues Club, partly owned by Morgan Freeman.

“That was like a reward, and it was a great experience," Ingram says. “The first time he did it for me, I realized this was it for me. It wasn't going to be a hobby.”

Buddy Guy's endorsement — and working with Tom Hambridge, Guy's producer and songwriter — gave Ingram a boost, as did being signed to Alligator, the landmark Chicago label that was home to Albert Collins, Son Seals, Koko Taylor and other greats. The strength of his debut gave Kingfish immediate credibility, swiftly generating a buzz around him as the future of blues guitar playing.

Hard Road remains rooted in Kingfish’s singing and searing blues guitar playing, but the songwriting veers into more modern approaches, with touches of rock, pop and R&B. The songs’ lyrics also explore emotionally raw and complex topics of love, loss, identity and personal growth. Ingram, now 26, has seen a lot more of the world — literally and metaphorically — than he did as a debut artist.